April 04, 2014

It's on? Lebanon Cracking Down on al Qaeda Supporters, Omar Bakri Muhammad on the Run

Omar Bakri Mohammad's stripper daughter Yasmin. Because, why not?

The thing about Lebanon is this: it's a failed state where terrorists actually control lots and lots of territory. The fact that Hezbollah has its own army which basically runs much of Southern Lebanon is telling about the place.

My Lebanese brother-in-law loves the place. Which is odd, because if Lebanon was so awesome why the hell is he living in California?

In any event, I guess the Lebanese government will tolerate some terrorists, just not others. So, deciding to put the hammer down on al Qaeda supporters in a single town -- Tripoli -- is a start, but won't be nearly enough:

Omar Bakri Mohammad is on the run in Lebanon, officials say, after his house was raided as part of an operation to end the sectarian violence in Tripoli....

The Lebanese army said it had arrested 75 people during Tuesday's operation in Tripoli, which saw troops moving into the main conflict areas - the Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbana and the neighbouring Alawite district of Jabal Muhsin - to try to quell the clashes.

But when the soldiers stormed Mr Bakri's house in the city centre, they found that he had already fled. His wife told local media that she did not know where he was.

Bab al-Tabbana would be the same place where Vice sent in a crew and filmed a bunch of al Qaeda flags and where one Islamist leader could be heard wondering why the US wasn't helping them, and then praising Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Yeah, why the US isn't helping them is a huge mystery.